This invention relates to an embroidering machine capable of detecting shortage in an embroidery material such as under thread or spangle and thereby performing a proper control such as stop of rotation of an embroidering machine main shaft.
The invention relates also to setting of an embroidery start position in an embroidering machine and positioning of an embroidery frame to the embroidery start position and, more particularly, to such setting and positioning according to which absolute coordinate data of a desired embroidery start position is manually set and inputted and stored in a memory, this absolute coordinate data of the embroidery start position is read from this memory at the start of embroidery and the embroidery frame is automatically set at the desired embroidery start position repeatedly by moving the embroidery frame to the embroidery start position corresponding to the absolute coordinate data.
Further, this invention relates to an embroidering machine capable of remote controlling an embroidering operation by operation of a remote control operation device without operating an operation panel provided on the embroidering machine.
In the conventional automatic embroidering machine, special detection means such as a sensor or a switch is provided for detecting the remaining amount of under thread stored in an under thread supply device or spangle stored in a spangle supply device. Upon detection by this detection means of exhaustion of the remaining amount of under thread stored in the under thread supply device or spangle stored in the spangle supply device, the main shaft motor of the embroidering machine is automatically stopped to supplement under thread or spangle.
The conventional embroidering machine is disadvantageous in respect of the manufacturing cost because a special sensor, switch or the like device must be provided for detecting the remaining amount of under thread or spangle.
In the conventional automatic embroidering machine, setting of a stitching operation start position of an embroidery design is made by manually moving the embroidery frame to a desired start position. In an automatic embroidering machine, current position of the embroidery frame is constantly detected by its relative position from the starting point of the embroidery and, accordingly, in a case where the same embroidery design is repeatedly embroidered, the embroidery frame can be automatically restored to an initial start position after finishing embroidery of one design even if the start position and the end position of the embroidery design are not the same whereby the same embroidery design can be embroidered repeatedly. If, however, embroidery of one embroidery design is made and then embroidery of another embroidery design is made and, again, embroidery of the first embroidery design is made, it is not possible to automatically restore the embroidery frame to the start position of the first embroidery design when the start positions of two embroidery designs are different from each other. Thus, when the embroidering operation is performed for the first embroidery design after embroidering an embroidery design of a different start position, it is necessary to mark the start position of the first embroidery design on the embroidery frame table at the starting of embroidering of the first embroidery design and move the embroidery frame manually to this marked position when the embroidery design is changed to the first embroidery design thereby to restore the embroidery frame to the start position of the first embroidery design.
In sum, in such conventional embroidering machine, in a case where, in the process of performing a repeated embroidering operation with respect to a certain embroidery design (first embroidery design), an embroidering operation of a different embroidery design (second embroidery design) which has a different start position is to be performed, the start position of the first embroidery design must be marked on the embroidery frame table with a marker or the like and, when the embroidery design has been restored from the second embroidery design to the first embroidery design and the embroidering operation is to be started again, the embroidery frame must be moved manually to the start position marked on the embroidery frame table to set the embroidering operation start position for the embroidery design. This is disadvantageous both in the work efficiency and accuracy in the embroidery operation.
In a recently developed automatic embroidering machine, patterns of embroidery designs to be embroidered tend to become large with a result that the range of embroidery surface to be embroidered expands. For this reason, when the operator performs the embroidery work while visually recognizing the embroidery design pattern on the embroidery frame under operation, substantial space is sometimes produced between the operator and the operation panel for controlling the embroidering machine. This causes difficulty for the operator in operating the operation panel while recognizing the pattern of the embroidery design and, in this case, the operator must move away from the embroidery frame under operation to the operation panel for operating the operation panel each time he wants to operate the embroidering machine.
On the other hand, since a bar switch constituting a start/stop switch is provided along the embroidery frame, the start/stop control by operation of the bar switch can be made while watching the pattern of the embroidery design on the embroidery frame. There is, however, an embroidering machine such as one having an automatic frame change function (AFC) in which the bar switch constituting the start/stop switch is not provided for structural reason. In this case, the start/stop switch is provided in a portion of the embroidering machine other than the embroidery frame such as the operation panel so that the operator must move to the portion such as the operation panel at which the start/stop switch is provided, interrupting visual recognition of the pattern of the embroidery design under operation.
In such prior art embroidering machine, since substantial space is produced between the operator and the operation panel for controlling the embroidering machine, it is very difficult for him to operate the operation panel or the start/stop switch while recognizing the pattern of the embroidery design under operation so that he must move to the operation panel or the start/stop switch away from the embroidery frame under operation. This is very troublesome and hampers accurate embroidery and efficient work.